The Education of Annalise

by Laetitia

  He tried to coldly return his mind to the preparations which still needed to be completed before the night was over. Annalise accused him of being inattentive as they drove through the foggy streets to their favorite gambling establishment. If she only knew how prominently she was figuring in his head

  . . . she might have wished for a little inattentiveness.

  * * * *

  The door to the gaming establishment swung wide, spilling golden light down the steps and enveloping Justin and Annalise in its welcome glow. The bewigged doorkeeper deftly slipped the cloak Justin had removed from his wife's shoulders over his arm and waited patiently while Justin divested himself of his coat.

  Justin glanced around, taking note of several small clusters of people grouped in intimate conversations around the periphery of the front parlor. He placed his hand beneath his young wife's elbow and guided her through the parlor to the gaming rooms. He immediately spotted a table with his friends. The Burke's entrance was acknowledged enthusiastically by Benjamin Lindsey.

  "Justin! Good to see you old man. We thought perhaps you might stay at home this evening." Although the greeting sounded common place, Justin was aware, as were all the men at the table, that Justin and Annalise's presence signaled an acknowledgment that there had been no private "confession".

  "I promised Annalise that I would bring her here when I returned if she had been good during my absence." Justin smiled at his young wife, and he took note that she refused to return his gaze. He broke the awkward silence whispering in his bride's ear, "Why don't you go freshen up, and I'll meet you back here?"

  Annalise, flashing Justin a bright, relieved smile, dashed off in the direction of the retiring room. Justin forced his eyes from her retreating form to take in his friends.

  "When my wife returns," Justin began without preamble, "she and I will excuse ourselves and remove to a room above stairs. I sent a message here while we were dining at home, that I would require a room toward the back of the establishment. I have reserved room 17. You will wait for ten minutes before you join us there. I must ask you not to speak, or identify yourself to my wife in any manner whatsoever. She will be blindfolded to spare her at least some of the indignity of this public display.

  "See here, Justin," Christopher Myrick interrupted, "if this lesson is to be of that private a nature, perhaps we should reconsider. I just thought..."

  "That is..."Jeffery Powers said, "we just thought it would be a lecture...a laying down of rules and all."

  Justin didn't acknowledge their concerns, but went on as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I ask that once you have gained entrance into the room, that you follow my instructions to the letter. Do you understand?" The men nodded agreement all around.

  "I need to know before we proceed any further with this..." Jeffery Powers began. "What I mean to say...well dash it all man! You're not intending to beat her, are you? I know it is technically legal for a man to...to take his wife in hand, as they say...but I must tell you that I don't hold with brutalizing women!" He glanced around the table to judge the reaction of the other men.

  They all implied their agreement with his statement by their silence.

  The Duke of Wexton did not even deign to reply to the question. "Any of you who would like to collect your winnings from my man in the morning, please feel free to do so," Justin replied calmly. "If however, you choose to join us above stairs, I must ask for your utmost discretion, as I have no desire to cause my new bride anymore embarrassment than she has earned."

  Before the men could reply, Annalise returned her cheeks glowing and her eyes sparkling. She wound her hand in proprietorial confidence around her husband's arm, and gave it a slight tug.

  "Justin, let's go into the back parlor. They are trying to form a table for a game of Whist. You will all excuse us, I know," she smiled charmingly at them all.

  All the men murmured agreement. They watched collectively as Annalise tugged Justin away. Christopher Myrick removed his gold pocket watch from his brocaded vest pocket and laid it on the table.

  "Ten minutes, didn't he say?"

  *****

  It took only a whisper in Annalise's ear to change her intended direction from the gaming room to the large entry hall with its sweeping grand staircase. She loved her husband's spontaneous nature, but she especially loved his disdain for propriety. How many other husbands of the ton would bring their wives here, let alone allow them to go above stairs to finally see what the upper floor looked like? She had pestered Justin from the first time he had brought her here, to take her upstairs so she could see first hand what all the whispering and covert looks were all about.

  Tonight it looked like her dream was going to come true. "What are these rooms used for?" she asked as she clutched her husband's arm as they climbed the stairs.

  "Sometimes just for a private supper with a mistress, or a private game with friends," Justin answered easily. "But sometimes they are used for assignations with some of the professional women who wander through the rooms below."

  Annalise couldn't contain a shiver of anticipation as Justin led her down the softly lit hall to Room 17. He swung the door open, and Annalise peered cautiously in around the doorframe.

  "Oh! It is nothing wicked at all!" She sounded disappointed. "I thought there would be something...you know...decadent in these rooms."

  Justin chuckled as he closed the door behind him. "Ah, but it isn't the furnishings in the room that are decadent, it's what people choose to do in these rooms that is considered "beyond the pale" " He leered at her and she giggled.

  "Come here my little dove, and let me ruin you," Justin said with just enough melodramatic flourish, that Annalise stopped retreating from him and began to walk towards him in what she hoped was a seductive glide, a welcoming smile on her face.

  Justin watched her come closer and he reached up to his artfully tied cravat and began to unwind it slowly from around his neck.. When Annalise stepped in front of him, he captured both her wrists and tied them loosely in front of her.

  "What are you doing?" Annalise looked down at her bound wrists and laughed. "Are you afraid I will attack you and "have my way with you"?" She laughed again, thoroughly enjoying this titillating game her husband had designed for her pleasure.

  "Now that you mention it, you have been known to become a little uninhibited in the past." Justin reached into his suit pocket and withdrew another snowy white cravat, which he proceeded to tie around Annalise's eyes.

  "You said you liked enthusiasm in your women!" She allowed Justin to turn her around so he could secure the knot at the back of her head. "Why the blindfold?"

  "Because without sight, all your other senses will be heightened" Justin ran a finger lightly down her arm, and smiled a little when she shivered. "See?"

  "Uhm..." Annalise leaned in toward him. He caught her and steered her over to a chair in the corner of the room.

  "Now I want you to sit here quietly while I prepare the room a bit. Will you do that?"

  Justin didn't wait for an answer, but began his preparations. First, he poured a glass of golden sherry and took it to his wife. "Here. This should keep you busy until I'm ready for you," he said as he guided her hands around the glass.

  "This is just a little unsettling," Annalise said. "I can't see you, but I can tell you"re moving about the room. What are you doing?"

  "You"ll find out."

  Without the necessity of appearing to be the seductive husband, Justin's face settled into an expression of grim seriousness, as he carefully placed a fainting couch so that it faced four empty chairs he had lined up in a row. From his pocket, he retrieved four more cravats and draped them over the back of the waiting chairs. He had just finished when a discrete knock broke the silence in the room.

  "Oh, Justin!" Annalise tried to stand up in alarm, but he pushed her gently back into the chair.

  "Don't be frightened, my dear. This is all part of what I have planned for you this evening."

 
Justin walked to the door, indicated the need for silence with his finger on his lips, and gestured to the men to come in and sit down. The men's faces registered confusion seeing Annalise, her hands bound, blindfolded, calmly sipping on a glass of sherry, but none of them said a word.

  "Who's come in, Justin?" Annalise strained to listen for any sounds.

  "Just some mutual friends, my love. There is nothing to be concerned about."

  Justin removed his tightly fitting coat and began to roll up his sleeves. He walked toward her, talking all the while until he stood before her, his feet braced just a bit apart.

  "Do you remember, my dear, the first time I brought you here?"

  "Yes..."

  "And do you remember me telling you that although you would be safe with me, it could be a very dangerous place?" Justin's tone was becoming more arctic by the moment.

  Annalise felt her stomach flip-flop and she couldn't seem to catch her breath.

  "Yes," she finally gasped out. He knew! My Lord in heaven, he knew! She could tell by the sound of his voice. She reached up to try to remove the blindfold, but Justin stopped her.

  "No, my dear. That is in place to protect you. You do not want to know the identity of the four men here. It would only embarrass you needlessly later."

  Annalise's brain was spinning. Did her husband intend to beat her? Had he enlisted the help of his friends? Lurid scenes began to play across her brain as she imagined being held by strange men while her husband pummeled her into unconsciousness.

  "I won't stand for this, Justin! I"ll scream the place down. Someone will rescue me!" She rose from the chair, dropping the half- finished sherry to the floor.

  Justin simply enveloped her in a firm hug, and pushed her back into her chair once more.

  "No one will come to your rescue, Annalise. That's the unadulterated, sad truth of it. Women scream often in these rooms...sometimes in unbridled ecstasy...and sometimes from very real pain. No one comes to their aid."

  Justin's voice took on an even sharper edge. "That is why I had forbidden you to come here without me." He saw his wife shudder, then he turned his attention to his four friends, all the time remaining close enough to Annalise to keep her seated.

  "Gentlemen, do not be concerned that I mean my new bride any major injury, but you did express an interest in the Burke family tradition of domestic tranquility. It is very simple, gentlemen." He looked each man in the eye.

  "...We spank."

  Annalise heard small explosions of breath and one quickly smothered chuckle before her husband continued.

  "As far back into the history of my family that anyone can recall, all male Burkes have been instructed in the art and application of administering a thorough thrashing to the... ah...southern regions of our current or future wives. Please note, we do not inflict this device on casual acquaintances. The occasional mistress has been known to be paddled if she has provided sufficient provocation, but as a general rule, it is a tool we reserve for our wives." Annalise gasped again behind him, and he took the opportunity to move to behind her chair and place his hands softly, but firmly on her shoulders.

  "Do not distress yourself my dear. My attention will return to you very soon."

  He patted her shoulder and she shrank from his touch with a whimper. "As my new bride is soon to find out, there is a set of rigid principles to which all Burke men adhere to insure the safety of their beloved wives, and these are the principles that I intend to impart to you, my dear friends.

  "Let us begin at the beginning. First, I have tied Annalise's hands together in front of her, to prevent her from trying to cover herself and protect her from her chastisement. Later, she will learn to control this impulse herself, but since this is her first experience as an adult woman..." Justin leaned over her shoulder. "It is your first experience as an adult woman, isn't it?"

  Annalise, shocked from her paralyzing fear by the sheer insanity of the situation, began delivering a stinging reply, and specifically called him a variety of names, which alluded to his lineage or lack there. Unabashed, Justin pulled out one more cravat and tied it around Annalise's mouth, effectively cutting off further invectives and interruptions.

  "Normally, in the privacy of your own homes, and without an audience who must listen to your explanations, neither the blindfold nor the gag would be necessary. Next, you will have observed that I have removed any jewelry, rings, cuff links, and the like, to avoid inadvertent injury. After that is accomplished, it is time to position her." Justin reached down and forced Annalise to rise. She tried to struggle out of his grip, but he simply tightened it.

  "Lisa," he said using his pet name for her, "if you continue to struggle, it will only be worse for you. I do not want your first chastisement to be marred with increased severity if we can avoid it. You have earned this spanking by your direct disobedience and defiance, and I am determined that you get it. The only question remains, do you want another spanking for being uncooperative?"

  Annalise was silent, but Justin raised her chin.

  "Do you?" he insisted.

  She shook her head "no", but a single tear escaped from under the blindfold and slithered down her cheek and the sight almost unmanned him. Justin cleared his throat and gently guided his bride toward the long couch.

  He returned his attention to the four men sitting before him. "I want you to understand, that I take no pleasure in this duty, but accept it as part of my obligation to care for, and to protect my wife. When we exchanged our vows, I swore to love, honor, and cherish her. Implicit in those vows is an obligation of a husband to keep his wife safe from any dangers from outside herself or from inside herself. To do this, it is imperative that a wife be given correction whenever she does something that will either place her in danger, or damage her relationship with you."

  Justin sat on the couch and draped Annalise across his strongly muscled thighs. She stretched her bound hands in front of her to brace herself on the upholstered surface arching her back a bit, while her lower half was raised higher in the air because of his knees.

  Annalise was appalled to find a part of her brain was fascinated with Justin's explanation. Her stomach was still queasy with fear, but there was a part of her that was responding to the tone and timber of his words which she intuitively knew were expressing his love for her. She didn't know how to react. A part of her wanted to run, and a part of her wanted to snuggle deeper into the circle of his arms. When she felt Justin's hand rest on the curve of her bottom, she froze.

  "My bride is being punished tonight because she placed herself in danger. If she had done nothing else, she would have found herself across my knee.

  But..." Justin tapped her rounded, covered bottom for emphasis. "she also chose to disobey and defy me as well as try to cover the truth when I asked her about it, all of which erodes my trust in her and damages our relationship. It is a sacred obligation that a man is responsible to protect both his wife and his relationship with his wife, for as long as they both shall live. According to my family, a man freely agrees to this when he takes a wife."

  Justin looked at his friends across from him. They had serious, thoughtful expressions on their faces as if they had never before contemplated their obligation to take control of both their wives and their relationships, or the level of responsibility that that entailed.

  "All Burke spankings are given on the bare," he continued. He smiled a little when he thought he felt his wife's bottom twitch just a little under his hand.

  "I have provided blindfolds for all of you," Justin's smile broadened, "because there is a limit to how much I am willing to share ...even with you."

  Justin felt Annalise definitely begin to squirm in his lap and he tightened his grip on her waist to hold her still. He waited until all the blindfolds were in place before he lifted Annalise's gown up and out of the way, tucking it under his restraining arm. He couldn't help but be affected by the sight of her smooth rounded bottom. Her skin was white and pink and looked as inno
cent as a baby's. Framed as it was by the soft yellow stockings held on her thighs by dainty embroidered garters, it made a tempting target. He felt himself grow hard. Then he remembered why she was here, and he brought his hard hand down in a stinging slap that resounded in the silent room. Annalise released a muffled scream, more in surprise than in pain and arched her back. Justin tightened his grip with his left arm around her middle as he continued to spank in a deliberate pattern, thoroughly covering her rapidly pinking back-end.

  Raising his voice just a little to be heard over the deliberate sounds of

  'sMACK", "Umph!", 'sMACK", "Owwwch!"...Justin continued his instruction.

  "The first part of the lesson, is important. It prepares her bottom and focuses her mind for the more severe lesson to come." Annalise wiggled frantically, appalled that this humiliating and painful spanking was going to get worse.

  SMACK! She felt a swat decidedly more painful than any that had come before, and she squeaked in protest.

  "Lie still, Lisa," Justin's firm voice penetrated her pain-fogged brain, and she tried to lie quietly as he continued to rain hard-handed swats on her now hot and stinging bottom. Perhaps if she forced herself to lie very still , she thought, this would be over soon .

  Justin continued as if he hadn't spoken to her, "It is important to cover the entire area during this initial stage, including this particularly effective area where her thighs end, and the swell of her bottom begins..." SMACK!

  SMACK! He swatted her there on both sides so hard that she reared up as far as she was able, and tried to scream.

  "As you can tell gentlemen from my wife's reaction, this is an especially tender, and therefore effective area to concentrate your more serious effort.

  My family usually reserves special attention to this area if the chastisement is to be ...uhm ...shall we say very emphatic? Usually, for minor offences, this area can be spared excessive concentration, but if the infraction is a major one, you will want to remember this as being an effective way of insuring that your wife does not sit comfortably for however long you deem necessary."